5 Reasons Not To Underestimate Roma In This Year’s Champions League

Each year, the much anticipated UEFA Champions League draw is announced, and each year there is inevitably the quartet that many describe as “The Group of Death”. Last season, it was Arsenal, Napoli, Olympique Marseille, and Borussia Dortmund, in which the Partenopei heart-breakingly missed out on a spot in the final 16 despite earning 12 points–the first ever in the tournament’s history. This time around, it’s arguably Group E, which contains Serie A runners-up Roma, Premier League champions Manchester City, Bundesliga title winners Bayern Munich, and Russian outfit CSKA Moscow that can by far be considered as the toughest out of all eight.

With just two spots up for grabs among three really strong sides, it’s obviously inevitable that someone will have to contend with featuring in Europe’s second-tier competition. Yet, when the draw was announced, many pundits and fans were obviously leaning more towards die Roten and City as the duo to get through, while consigning the Giallorossi to the Europa League, something that after watching how Rudi Garcia’s men dismantled their Russian opponents this past week they may want to reconsider. As Gervinho and Juan Iturbe ran riot against the hapless Russian outfit, with Maicon also getting in on the action to give the capital club their best ever result in their Champions League history, Pep Guardiola’s troops were struggling at the Allianz Arena against a highly organized City side spearheaded by the fantastic performance of Joe Hart.

In fact, it took until the 90th minute for the English international to finally concede with former Man City player Jerome Boateng coming back to haunt his former side and dash the Premier League giant’s hopes of leaving Munich with a much-deserved draw. And while obviously CSKA Moscow are by no means the kind of opposition that Roma will face in Manuel Pellegrini’s (who was serving a touch-line ban) side nor Guardiola’s charges, Garcia’s squad are still top of a difficult group on goal difference, something that will come in handy over the next few games.

Here are a few reasons why not to rule out the Giallorossi’s chances of making it into the round of 16–and perhaps beyond.

1. They appeared to have put the worst behind them and have finally righted the ship after the storm.

Roma’s last appearance in the Champions League was during the 2010/2011 season, in which they were unfortunately dumped out in the round of 16 by Ukrainian outfit Shakhtar after losing 6-2 on aggregate. And since then, the club went through a managerial merry-go-round, seeing in five different faces until finally settling down with the aforementioned Garcia.

And the former Lille boss has taken the  team to a whole new level since assuming his position in 2013, guiding them to a respectable second-placed finish with their highest ever points total and, so far have continued to match Juventus blow-for-blow in this season’s Scudetto race. The team, as a whole looks hungry and ready to prover their worth and the French tactician is definitely the man to help them achieve that.

2. They have other teams to look to for inspiration.

The evergreen captain Francesco Totti, who will be celebrating his 38th birthday in less than a week made it clear that his side are not looking just to be a blip on the continental stage this season. Indeed, the 2006 World Cup winner has pointed to last season’s Cinderella story, Atletico Madrid, who shocked all by making it all the way to the finals against Real Madrid in Lisbon, and in 2013, Borussia Dortmund doing the same as they took on Bundesliga heavyweights Bayern Munich in London. Now, while as mentioned before, they won’t have an easy task ahead, neither did Dortmund nor Atleti so indeed, it is not too unrealistic for Giallorossi fans to see their team competing in the latter stages sooner than they may think.

3. Solid squad depth.

Roma might not be a team full of super stars a la Real Madrid or Barcelona, but neither  did Atletico last season nor Dortmund the campaign before. Moreover, it’s important to note that the 10-time Champions League winners had spent over $1 billion–that’s over $1,000,000,000–in their quest to win that 10th title, showing that money does not instantly guarantee success.

What die Schwartzgelben and los Rojiblancos had going for them was the concept of working together as a collective and an overall solid squad that the coach could rotate comfortably enough to keep it fresh for both domestic and continental competitions. Garcia, so far, seems to be getting the hang of that as demonstrated in Roma’s wins over Empoli and this past Sunday, Cagliari in which several first-team players were rested both before and after the mid-week Champions League clash.

4. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Simply put, Roma are hungry and desperate to establish themselves among Europe’s elite. And their fans are keen on seeing their squad return to the continent after several seasons in the international wilderness. With a captain that belies his advancing years with his top-notch performances, younger players who are excited to be featuring in the continent’s premier competition, a wily tactician who knows how to get the best out of his squad, and their highly ambitious American owners, both fans and neutrals alike should expect them to move up into one of the more widely recognized teams on the continent over the course of the next few seasons.

5. The re-birth (or re-incarnation) of Gervinho.

The Ivorian has appeared to find his footing in Serie A under the tutelage of Garcia, who he worked with during his time at Lille. Last season, he grabbed a dozen goals in his debut term with Roma, which not only is his highest ever since leaving France but is more than the combined total during his disappointing two seasons with Arsenal. He enjoyed a great outing during the team’s drubbing of the Russians, scoring two goals and will be set on continuing in this rich vein of form as he attempts to prove his legions of critics wrong.

Follow Michelle Bonsu on Twitter: @MichelleB289